546.10  Professional licensing and regulation bureau — superintendent of banking.
  1.  The professional licensing and regulation bureau of the banking division shall administer and coordinate the licensing and regulation of several professions by bringing together the following licensing boards:
  a.  The engineering and land surveying examining board created pursuant to chapter 542B.
  b.  The Iowa accountancy examining board created pursuant to chapter 542.
  c.  The real estate commission created pursuant to chapter 543B.
  d.  The architectural examining board created pursuant to chapter 544A.
  e.  The landscape architectural examining board created pursuant to chapter 544B.
  f.  The real estate appraiser examining board created pursuant to section 543D.4.
  g.  The interior design examining board created pursuant to chapter 544C.
  2.  The bureau is headed by the administrator of professional licensing and regulation who shall be the superintendent of banking. The administrator shall appoint and supervise staff and shall coordinate activities for the licensing boards within the bureau.
  3.  a.  The licensing and regulation examining boards included in the bureau pursuant to subsection 1 retain the powers granted them pursuant to the chapters in which they are created, except for budgetary and personnel matters which shall be handled by the administrator. Each licensing board shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 17A. Decisions by a licensing board are final agency actions for purposes of chapter 17A.
  b.  Notwithstanding subsection 5, eighty-five percent of the funds received annually resulting from an increase in licensing fees implemented on or after April 1, 2002, by a licensing board or commission listed in subsection 1, is appropriated to the professional licensing and regulation bureau to be allocated to the board or commission for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2002, and succeeding fiscal years, for purposes related to the duties of the board or commission, including but not limited to additional full-time equivalent positions. In addition, notwithstanding subsection 5, twenty-five dollars from each real estate salesperson’s license fee and each broker’s license fee received pursuant to section 543B.14 is appropriated to the professional licensing and regulation bureau for the purpose of hiring and compensating a real estate education director and regulatory compliance personnel. The director of the department of administrative services shall draw warrants upon the treasurer of state from the funds appropriated as provided in this section and shall make the funds available to the professional licensing and regulation bureau on a monthly basis during each fiscal year.
  4.  The professional licensing and regulation bureau of the banking division of the department of commerce may expend additional funds, including funds for additional personnel, if those additional expenditures are directly the cause of actual examination expenses exceeding funds budgeted for examinations. Before the bureau expends or encumbers an amount in excess of the funds budgeted for examinations, the director of the department of management shall approve the expenditure or encumbrance. Before approval is given, the director of the department of management shall determine that the examination expenses exceed the funds budgeted by the general assembly to the bureau and the bureau does not have other funds from which the expenses can be paid. Upon approval of the director of the department of management, the bureau may expend and encumber funds for excess examination expenses. The amounts necessary to fund the examination expenses shall be collected as fees from additional examination applicants and shall be treated as repayment receipts as defined in section 8.2, subsection 8.
  5.  Fees collected under chapters 542, 542B, 543B, 543D, 544A, 544B, and 544C shall be paid to the treasurer of state and credited to the general fund of the state. All expenses required in the discharge of the duties and responsibilities imposed upon the professional licensing and regulation bureau of the banking division of the department of commerce, the administrator, and the licensing boards by the laws of this state shall be paid from moneys appropriated by the general assembly for those purposes. All fees deposited into the general fund of the state, as provided in this subsection, shall be subject to the requirements of section 8.60.
  6.  The licensing boards included in the bureau pursuant to subsection 1 may refuse to issue or renew a license to practice a profession to any person otherwise qualified upon any of the grounds for which a license may be revoked or suspended or a licensee may otherwise be disciplined, or upon any other grounds set out in the chapter governing the respective board.
  7.  The licensing boards included in the bureau pursuant to subsection 1 may suspend, revoke, or refuse to issue or renew a license, or may discipline a licensee based upon a suspension, revocation, or other disciplinary action taken by a licensing authority in this or another state, territory, or country. For purposes of this subsection, “disciplinary action” includes the voluntary surrender of a license to resolve a pending disciplinary investigation or proceeding. A certified copy of the record or order of suspension, revocation, voluntary surrender, or other disciplinary action is prima facie evidence of such fact.
  8.  Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the licensing boards included within the bureau pursuant to subsection 1 may by rule establish the conditions under which an individual licensed in a different jurisdiction may be issued a reciprocal or comity license, if, in the board’s discretion, the applicant’s qualifications for licensure are substantially equivalent to those required of applicants for initial licensure in this state.
  9.  Notwithstanding section 272C.6, the licensing boards included within the bureau pursuant to subsection 1 may by rule establish the conditions under which the board may supply to a licensee who is the subject of a disciplinary complaint or investigation, prior to the initiation of a disciplinary proceeding, all or such parts of a disciplinary complaint, disciplinary or investigatory file, report, or other information, as the board in its sole discretion believes would aid the investigation or resolution of the matter.
  10.  Notwithstanding section 17A.6, subsection 2, the licensing boards included within the bureau pursuant to subsection 1 may adopt standards by reference to another publication without providing a copy of the publication to the administrative rules coordinator if the publication containing the standards is readily accessible on the internet at no cost and the internet site at which the publication may be found is included in the administrative rules that adopt the standard.
  11.  Renewal periods for all licenses and certificates of the licensing boards included within the bureau pursuant to subsection 1 may be annual or multiyear, as provided by rule.
  12.  A quorum of a licensing board included within the bureau pursuant to subsection 1 shall be a majority of the members of the board and action may be taken upon a majority vote of board members present at a meeting who are not disqualified.
86 Acts, ch 1245, §710
; 88 Acts, ch 1274, §41
; 90 Acts, ch 1247, §18
; 90 Acts, ch 1261, §42
; 91 Acts, ch 260, §1246
; 93 Acts, ch 131, §24
; 94 Acts, ch 1107, §94, 95
; 94 Acts, ch 1187, §22
; 2001 Acts, ch 55, §33, 34, 38
; 2002 Acts, 2nd Ex, ch 1003, §33, 35
; 2003 Acts, ch 145, §286
; 2005 Acts, ch 19, §115
; 2006 Acts, ch 1030, §66
; 2006 Acts, ch 1177, §52
; 2007 Acts, ch 170, §7
; 2010 Acts, ch 1055, §3
; 2011 Acts, ch 34, §131
; 2012 Acts, ch 1023, §157
; 2013 Acts, ch 93, §2